Sunday, August 02, 2015, 7:31 p.m.

Medicaid’s new thrift baffles lawmakers

The rapidly shrinking state Medicaid deficit can’t be explained by anything other than an “announcement effect” of the state’s far-reaching payment overhaul, which prompted healthcare providers to rein in costs and resulted in reducing the $5 billion program’s growth rate to a 25-year low, the state Medicaid director told lawmakers Wednesday.